Draft Notes 5-26-12 – Sam Selman, Alex Bregman, Richard Stock, Judah Akers

 Sam Selman

Starting pitcher Sam Selman continued the Commodores’ Houdini act of escaping trouble at the SEC Tournament… The Commodores (32-25) extended their season-high winning streak to eight games and ended a seven-game skid against the Gators (41-17) dating to the 2011 regular season. Selman stranded nine runners — five in scoring position — over six innings of shutout work while throwing 120 pitches. He struck out the last batter in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to squander Florida opportunities each time. He struck out Gators’ No. 9 hitter Josh Tobias three times. Selman (9-3) improved to 9-0 in his past 10 outings (eight starts), a remarkable stretch that has seen the left-hander post a miniscule 1.03 ERA.

 Alex Bregman

Alex Bregman: C, Albequerque Academy, 5'11", 185, R/R A tireless worker, Bregman was being heavily scouted before breaking his finger fielding a ground ball early in the 2012 season. Bregman, an LSU signee, played both shortstop and catcher for his high school, though profiles long term behind the dish. He has played mainly infield throughout his career with both Team USA and in school, but many predict that his athleticism and quick release will allow him to stick behind the plate. His bat will play at either position, though positional scarcity at shortstop and catcher make him even more valuable there. A good runner, Bregman ran a 6.82 60 yard dash at Perfect Game and his speed and athleticism show in the field, no matter his position. At the plate, he shows surprising power for a guy his size and squares the ball up consistently. A solid all-around player, even without a defensive home, Bregman presents an interesting profile for Major League teams. The broken finger certainly came at an unfortunate time and makes him a bit of a wild card come draft day, but there may be a few teams still willing to take the risk on Bregman early thanks to his power bat and athleticism.

            Mack projection – Bregman was a 4-5^th round pick as a catcher, but has been projected as high as a 3^rd rounder as a second baseman. Then, he went down with a relatively minor ijury. I’d say he’s back in the 4^th round range.

Richard Stock

Nebraska JR C Richard Stock: plus arm; plus raw power; good athlete; has gone from USC to LA Pierce JC to Nebraska; value comes as catcher, so if he is forced to play predominantly first base then he’s in trouble; notes from Stock’s prep days: “has elicited Fred McGriff comps with his setup and swing; in a class of ridiculously hard throwers, Stock’s arm is on the short list of the strongest; gets sloppy behind plate due to overreliance on his pure arm strength; sloth-level speed; unfairly graded down because of struggles of his older brother, Robert”; 6-2, 185 pounds

Mack projection – A definite third day choice. 

 Judah Akers

JUDAH AKERS -  Belmont … 1B … Jr.  Cookeville, TN … 5-hole … bats: R  Singled and scored to force extra inning in bottom of 9th and then stroked game-winning single in the 15th (despite facing a desperation 5-infielder aliggnment), ending 4-3 marathon game in Atlantic Sun Tournament vs. dangerous 6-seed and host team Stetson (which owns the top RPI of any A-Sun team) … showed his hitting prowess by going with first pitch in bottom of the 9th, sending opposite-field single into right field and ultimately scoring with 2-outs for 3-3 game … added another late-game hit in 13th (2-out single) and then won game in the 15th, with single up the middle to score Drew Turner … second on team with .326 batting avg. (33 RBI, 16 doubles, 3 HR).

2012 Draft: - Spencer Kieboom, Sam Selman, Walker Weickel, Lance McCullers, Kent Emanuel



Photo by Mark Crammer

 Spencer Kieboom:


6-20-11: - http://baseballdraftreport.com/  - Clemson SO C Spencer Kieboom
.300/.382/.382 – 23 BB/12 K – 170 AB - There is a lot to like about Spencer Kieboom. First, he’s got a good approach at the plate. Next up, there is his even better defense behind the plate. Finally, and best of all, there is his name, Spencer Kieboom. The first two may be more important with respect to his future in baseball, but I’d say that last quality alone is more than enough to get him on every early 2012 watch list.

Sam Selman


6-17-11: - http://baseballdraftreport.com/  SO LHP Sam Selman (2012) - There are way too many teams and players for me to keep track of everybody and everything quite the way I’d like to. The case of Sam Selman exemplifies the limits of my coverage. In doing research for this very piece, I checked out Selman’s 2011 stats, excited to see what kind of numbers a player with a potential plus fastball (mid-90s peak), plus slider, and promising changeup (per my notes) put up. Selman threw a whopping 6.1 innings last year. Based on the reports I had on him from his high school/early Vanderbilt days, some major injury must have popped up for Selman in 2011 to limit his innings that drastically, I thought. Not so fast, my friend. Selman’s lack of work can be traced to an overcrowded (in the best possible way) Vanderbilt pitching staff and a somewhat disappointingly slow transition to the college game, most notably from a strength standpoint. His string bean 6-3, 170 pound physique has not yet proven to be reliable enough to handle any kind of real innings workload and his control has kept him from being able to effectively utilize his array of promising pitches.



Walker Weickel:


6-19-11: - http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=5909  - Walker Weickel followed Fulmer, and was arguably the most impressive pitcher so far during the National Showcase. He has a tall, strong and still projectable frame. He threw 92-93 consistently touching 94, and threw two very effective secondary offerings in his mid-70s curveball and low-80s changeup. The speed differential and his ability to throw all of his pitches for strikes gives Weickel a near flawless repertoire.



Lance McCullers:


6-19-11: - Twitter - @PGPatrickEbert - 2012 #mlbdraft prospect Lance McCullers throws 97, 97 and 98 with his 1st 3 pitches here at the PG National, also throws nasty 86 curveball



Kent Emanuel:


6-20-11: - http://sebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1233364  - With their season on the line, North Carolina turned to a freshman. Kent Emanuel got the ball against one of the most storied programs in college athletics. Nine innings later, he collected a complete game, four-hit shutout and kept his Tar Heels alive with a 3-0 victory. The southpaw allowed four hits, all singles, and was never seriously challenged by the Longhorns. Through it all, Emanuel kept a calm presence on a stage that is anything but. -